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Jones set for Papua New Guinea debut

Jones will return to international cricket, six years after representing England in the 2006.

Dubai: England wicketkeeper Geraint Jones will be playing for his country of birth, Papua New Guinea (PNG) in a qualifying event that will lead two aspiring cricket nations to the ICC World Twenty20.

Jones will return to playing international cricket, six years after representing England in the 2006 Ashes Trophy in Australia.

"It's been in the pipeline for a while. Because my last game for England was more than four years ago it opened the door to play for PNG. The opportunity was there and the guys have done fantastically well to get to this stage," Jones was quoted as saying by The Age, Melbourne.

"I wanted to make sure they wanted me to be part of it. I didn't want to steamroll in but thankfully they said, yes, they wanted me involved," he added.

Jones said that it was great chance for him to get back to playing international cricket and take part in World Cup, which he never did with England.

"There's definitely a bit of giving something back, but it's also a chance to play a bit more international cricket and maybe go to a world cup, and that was one thing I never did with England," he said.

Jones' parents were teachers who worked for an Australian organisation but were posted to PNG in 1973. Geraint was born three years later, in Kundiawa.